The Muckenthaler Cultural Center presents “Vanishing Worlds: The Art of Cultural Adornment” from January 15 to April 17, with a special membership opening on January 14.

The exhibit is a celebration of the techniques and styles of personal cultural adornment by indigenous people from Africa, Asia and the Americas. Many pieces in the exhibition are from 100 to 200 years old and several are much older. Textiles and photographs augment the exhibit, providing additional examples of style and context. Included in the show are more than 350 individual original pieces.

There will be a complimentary gallery tour of the exhibit on Sunday, February 27, from 2 to 4 pm. Accompanied by the tour will be a lecture/slide presentation, “Barter, Blood and Beauty, Beads in the Age of Discovery,” presented by Wolfgang Schlink, owner of Tribal Earth Gallery, jewelry maker and bead enthusiast. The lecture will focus on the role beads play in the fascinating story of exploration and exploitation throughout history.

A benefit dinner will follow at 6 to 9 pm to raise funds to support the exhibition. This event, which costs $75, will include a multicultural dinner featuring traditional foods from the Americas, Africa and Asia, as well as a gallery talk and “try on” session for those in attendance.

“As far as I know this is the first show if its kind on the West Coast and certainly a very rare show for the United States,” said Patricia House, curator of the exhibit and director of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center. House stressed that the exhibit is more extensive than a bead show since there will be neck pieces, earrings, bracelets, anklets and head dresses, as well as textiles to help focus the viewer on the entire ensemble and its position in the history of the culture.

“Bead lovers will have the opportunity to see beads strung as pieces of adornment, but the focus is on the heritage of the entire piece of jewelry and the people who created and wore the piece,” explained House. The objects come in assorted materials, including shells, brass, tin, rope, vegetable materials and others.

Included among the exhibit’s stunning pieces will be items from tribal groups such as the Samburu from Kenya, the Masai from Tanzania, the Zulu from South Africa, the Dogon from Mali and the Tuareg from the Sahara. Among the alluring treasures from Asia are examples of various Hilltribe groups from Southeast Asia. Other featured exotic ornamentation includes representations of the Naga from Burma, silver pieces with Hindu influence from India, a headdress from Afghanistan and Geisha adornment from Japan. In the Americas, examples of pre-Columbian gold pieces, Mexican folk art and southwest Native American collections from groups including Pueblo, Navajo and Hopi cultures will be showcased.

An illustrated exhibition catalog, Vanishing Worlds: The Art of Cultural Adornment, will be available at the exhibition opening. The catalog’s author and curator of the exhibition shares details on how tradition and belief systems influenced design of different cultures.

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center is at 1201 West Malvern Avenue. For information, 714-738-6595 or .